If we're not talking about boobies, then yeah fanservice is perfectly fine. The problem is that nowadays people behind the media we consume seem hell bent on what I call 'fan disservice'. They want to destroy core elements of the franchise that fans have come to love in favor of pushing a progressive agenda. You see it with properties like Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Marvel comics, DC comics and many others. It's sickening, so I don't bother patronizing these people with my hard earned money. Other fans should follow suit, and send the message that we don't like it when you show blatant disrespect for us.
imo a big part of this is, these are intellectual properties purchased by a company and then given to new creators to do with what they wish. this is VERY different from if the original creator kept making the art. the people making Star Wars movies are not the people who invented the franchise. ditto for Star Trek, Dr. Who, Marvel comics, etc.
it's different from, say, Metallica, who is always comprised of the same band members, to create something new and still call it "Metallica". yes if they release a bad new record then people will complain but they will still consider it Metallica. what if every member was different and the only thing that was the same was the name? thus the equivalent for most franchises would be if Metallica sold the rights to their name and all their old songs to some company, and that company found 4 new musicians, had them record and album, and said "Now you guys are Metallica". the only thing that makes them "Metallica" at that point is a legal technicality. they really have nothing to do with the original creators. nobody would buy it with music, it's kind of silly how they buy it with movies, tvs, etc.
ironically, at that point, the new "creators" are just as much fans as their audience. so you end up with people saying "Oh i've been a fan of Spider-Man my whole life" whereas the actual creators of Spider-Man wrote all those stories without that fandom at all. so whenever i see a creator say they are "big fans" of what they are working on, i realize it means nothing, and probably their story will suck, and they will be too self conscious about it all.
so what we have nowadays is fans ("creators") telling other fans (audience) what they should or should not like. i would argue that mostly, it's all fan service. it's just that the people at the top have branded themselves as gatekeeping superfans. but they are just fans in the end. if the writer is doing it to make themselves happy, they are giving themselves fan service. i mean these movie writers did not invent Captain America and Spider-Man, some old dudes from the '60s did that. it's like playing with somebody else's toys.
i do think if you are a public artist who wants to make a living, then yes, you have to appease an audience. sure, you can be in it for art's sake alone, but you need to ignore the audience completely in that case. for most popular work, meant for a popular audience, often in the millions, no, get the fuck over yourself, it's time to make some people happy. that's your job.
